


Hide in a Raincoat When Things are Falling Apart

by Pennygarcia



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Falling In Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-01-26 23:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12568576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pennygarcia/pseuds/Pennygarcia
Summary: Whizzer moves into the apartment next door and Marvin tries to be civil.Sometimes things are easier said than done.





	1. and so it begins

**Author's Note:**

> I already have most of this written I just have to edit and post the other parts so hopefully starting to finally post this will finally give me the motivation to do so. Anyway I wrote most of this while trying to avoid finishing my college applications so hopefully you will enjoy!

Marvin considered himself to be a pretty reasonable person. He understood that he went to bed earlier than most people, so dealing with loud noise while trying to fall asleep was just part of apartment living at this point. He also understood that despite the fact that he had no real desire to make small talk with his neighbors on the elevator or when running into each other in the hallway, some people found enjoyment in having those small connections so Marvin simple goes along with the conversation. So when a man by the name of Whizzer moved into the apartment next door and started to blare music past an unreasonable hour or ask Marvin to hold the elevator doors open every morning, Marvin tried to pretend he was not bothered by the antics.

Key word: tried.

Marvin normally didn’t have a hard time pretending to like his neighbors. Sure, they got on his nerves sometimes, but they were nice overall and it wasn’t like Marvin was completely cold hearted.

Whizzer, he soon realized, was different. It seemed that everything he did was done deliberately to annoy Marvin, and Marvin wasn’t sure what to do about it.  
On day that Whizzer moved in, Marvin was actually really glad to know that someone closer to his age would be moving next door. His neighbor previously was a mother and father who recently had a newborn and had decided to move into a larger living space which Marvin was eternally grateful for. It’s not that he hated kids per se, but as he got older his tolerance for screaming children seemed to have decreased significantly and this was amplified every time he had to listen to the baby next door cry for what felt like every ten minutes.

At first Whizzer had seemed nice enough and part of Marvin actually hoped that he would become good friends with the man. This was pretty out of character for Marvin, but after his friends Charlotte and Cordelia moved into a different building he was starting to feel lonely and was hoping to have a neighbor he could relate to more and possibly create a new friendship with.

Whizzer, he soon realized, would not be that person. Now looking back it almost humored him to think that he and Whizzer were alike in any way.  
On the first day after Whizzer moved in, Marvin had stepped inside the elevator as part of his routine in getting to work and before he could close the doors he heard a voice down the hall yell “Wait!”. As he looked up he noticed Whizzer running frantically down the hallway and Marvin, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot, decided to hold the doors open.

Without realizing it, this small action would end up sparking weeks of stress and frustration.

Whizzer was fine at the start. For the most part he would just talk to Marvin about whatever reality show was on last night and Marvin pretended to look interested. It’s not that he didn’t want to talk to Whizzer at all, but he really couldn’t offer any sort of valuable insight or comments on the latest reality television.  
Unfortunately, Marvin would be begging to listen to the reality tv input later, as Whizzer later moved on from television to trying to talk about (and in Marvin’s own opinion annoy) Marvin. 

Whizzer started to (and loved to) pick apart Marvin’s clothing choices every morning. If it was not something negative, it was always a “Wow I didn’t know you could actually dress yourself properly”. Leave it to Whizzer to find a way to make compliments a bad thing. 

Marvin never really explicitly said that the things Whizzer did annoyed him, however he just assumed that human decency would prevent someone from acting in the way Whizzer did. Of course, humanity just loved to consistently prove Marvin wrong as two weeks had passed since he moved in and Whizzer was still the cause of his stress every morning. It wasn’t that he was actually hurt by the things he said, but god was it annoying to listen to first thing in the morning. 

At first Marvin tried to ignore the shenanigans. Yeah, he didn’t necessarily need passive aggressive comments about his clothing choices every morning before work or to listen to whatever the hell Whizzer called ‘music’ past eleven at night, but if ignoring Whizzer meant that he could avoid more conversation and confrontation, that’s what he would do.

The problem was Marvin was having an increasingly difficult tine ignoring it. He thought that ignoring Whizzer would just make him shut up eventually however, as the days went by, this strategy revealed itself to be a failure.

Finally, on one Monday morning, Marvin had enough.

Marvin didn’t particularly care for Mondays, just like any other sane person on the planet, so needless to say he did not have the patience to deal with Whizzer that morning 

As usual Marvin was waiting for the elevator doors to open and when they did, he heard the quick footsteps of Whizzer jogging through the hallway. With a sigh, he grudgingly held the doors open. Without missing a beat, Whizzer ran into the elevator, panting from the rush to make it in time. After fixing his hair by running his hands through it, Whizzer took a long look at Marvin (who had been trying his best to pretend Whizzer was not there) and scoffed before mumbling something about his shirt. This was the last straw and it finally gave Marvin the motivation to finally say something.

“You know I don’t have to hold the elevator doors open for you every morning if you are just going to sit here and insult me the whole time”.

“Wow you can actually talk” Whizzer replied in fake shock.

“Yes I can talk however; you just can’t seem to comprehend that I don’t want to talk to you”

“Ouch that one hurt”

“Yeah well maybe I would have a little more sympathy if you weren’t such an asshole every morning” Marvin grumbled in response before looking away. He knew that what he was saying was justified however; he still could not fully deal with the confrontation that would occur after his comment.

“Wow he speaks and he’s feisty, I would have never guessed”

It was taking all of Marvin’s will power to not respond, but he decided against it. As much as he wanted to curse this Whizzer guy out, he didn’t really want to have to see him on the way to work every morning after. He would just have to pick and choose his battles.

Fortunately, Marvin didn’t have to face this internal battle for long as he heard the elevator door ding, signifying that they had reached the ground floor.

Marvin scurried out of the elevator as soon as the doors permitted him to do so. On the way out he briefly heard Whizzer say something else in response however, he left so fast the comment just ended up sounding like a jumble of words and he definitely was not going to back and ask Whizzer to clarify.

When arriving to the bus stop and sitting down on a nearby bench, Marvin couldn’t help but to think about the conversation that had just happened. His heart was racing as he felt conflicted. Yeah he wanted to and needed to say something, but wasn’t he supposed to feel better after telling him off? Instead he just felt more nervous at the thought of seeing him again. He wasn’t even sure why Whizzer’s comments got him that angry. Normally he would just brush this off but something about Whizzer prevented him from doing so. He just was hoping that whatever had just occurred would hopefully prevent any further conversation while still not having Whizzer hate him. The whole Machiavelli concept of “feared but not hated” was a lot more difficult to achieve than initially anticipated. Luckily, he didn’t have to contemplate this any longer as the bus pulled up to the stop and he made his way to work.

In the days following the confrontation with Whizzer, Marvin had done everything in his power to ignore him. One of the efforts made by Marvin to avoid conflict was waking up earlier every morning for work, so that he wouldn’t run into Whizzer in the elevator. As much as Marvin told himself that waking up earlier to avoid him was worth it, the exhaustion that he felt sitting at his desk every day was really making him start to think otherwise.

Needless to say it didn’t take long for Marvin to reach a breaking point.

Marvin was really hoping that the next time he would talk to Whizzer would not be in a confrontational way, but nothing ever seemed to sway in his favor lately.  
It was a Sunday night and Marvin was just trying to go to bed to try and get a good night’s sleep before the work week, when he heard Whizzer start to play music. Marvin was fine with this as many of his old neighbors would play their music at night and continued to try and fall asleep however, two hours later, the music seemed to have just gotten louder and Marvin was no closer to falling asleep. Any sort of opposition to confronting Whizzer again seemed to have suddenly vanished as he was not only angry at the fact the music was so loud, but also incredibly exhausted and stressed to have started his week out with less than five hours of sleep. He could file a noise complaint but all that was going to do was lead to more paperwork on Marvin’s part and really do nothing to resolve the current situation. Not to mention the thought of Whizzer being kicked out of the apartment because of a complaint that Marvin made, caused him to feel somewhat sad. Knowing how he was, Marvin would probably never recover from the guilt of that either, despite the fact that the person in question was Whizzer. Angrily, Marvin decided to take the matter into his own hands and got up out of bed to put his slippers on before walking over to Whizzer’s apartment and banging on the door. When he didn’t hear a response he decided to knock again. 

“Whizzer I know you are in there” Marvin yelled to try and make sure that he was heard over the music. Finally after waiting for what felt like an eternity, the door opened to reveal an unimpressed Whizzer staring back. “Marvin what the hell do you want”.

“What do you mean ‘what the hell do I want’ you know exactly why I am here Whizzer I know you’re not stupid. It’s Sunday at one in the morning just turn the music down” Marvin said in response. Upon hearing this, Whizzer scoffed and shut the door in Marvin’s face before he could say anything else. Marvin became even more frustrated than he was before and proceeded to bang on the door yet again. Two minutes later there was still no response and the music, if possible, has only seemed to get louder.

He really debated knocking on the door a third time, but he knew that this would most likely just end up with Whizzer ignoring him, so he went back to his own apartment and tried yet again to fall asleep. As he was lying in bed he was angry at the fact the whole confronting him was going to accomplish nothing except creating a greater divide between him and Whizzer however, as he was laying there the music suddenly stopped and Marvin smiled as he was finally able to fall asleep.  
The next morning didn’t seem to be treating Marvin any better as his alarm clock had decided to take the day off, causing him to wake up on his own twenty minutes later than his usual schedule. In addition to being late, when making breakfast Marvin burned his hand trying to fish the toast out of the toaster oven. Marvin rushed through the rest of his daily routine with an icepack on his arm and managed to only be ten minutes late when leaving the apartment building. Of course it was pouring rain outside and Marvin had no time left to run back to his apartment to get an umbrella so he decided to just hope for the best as he ran through the rain to hopefully get to the bus stop in time.

Considering the fact that the day had started off so horribly, Marvin should probably not have been surprised when he realized that he missed the bus however, he still managed to be let down when he rounded the corner to get to the bus station and realized that the bus had left him behind, in the pouring rain, with no way to get to work.

“Fuck!” Marvin exclaimed, to nobody in particular. He assumed it was just a ‘Fuck you’ to the world at this point which, he thought, was pretty justifiable. It kind of felt therapeutic and before he really knew it he was yelling profanities into the open air while looking like a child throwing a temper tantrum. In his anger at the world, Marvin didn’t notice the car that had pulled up next to him on the sidewalk until a familiar voice called out to him.

“Hey get in the car I can take you to work alright, you look insane. Who are you even yelling at?”. Of course out of anybody in the world to have driven by at this moment, it had to have been Whizzer and Marvin really did not need any more frustration in this already shitty morning.

“Nobody okay! I just want to get to work, but my damn alarm clock never went off and my hand is burnt and now my clothes are soaked and god are you laughing?!”yelled Marvin, exasperated with frustration. Whizzer had been sitting in the driver’s seat smirking, as Marvin gained increasingly frustrated while listing off the issues that he faced that morning.

“Yes I am because you look like a lunatic. Newsflash: The world isn’t ending because you are having a shitty morning. Just get in the car you are making it increasingly hard for me to want to do you a favor here” Whizzer called out from the car. Despite everything telling him to not get in the car with Whizzer considering he knew that this was going to make it harder to avoid him in the future, Marvin didn’t have many options at this point and swallowed his pride as he hopped in the passenger side of the car.

Marvin gazed out the window watching the raindrops slowly roll down the glass as Whizzer started the car. It had become incredibly silent as Marvin was dead set on not initiating any conversation. Suddenly, Whizzer started talking.

“You know I don’t really mean anything that I say to you in the elevator” Whizzer said to Marvin. “Really? Because I have an incredibly hard time believing that” Marvin responded with as he continued to stared out the passenger side window.

“Okay what I mean is I am not mean to be like hurtful or anything. I realized that being nice was not going to get you to talk so I figured I would you would need to get riled up about something and Voilà”. As frustrated as Marvin as at this explanation, he really couldn’t think of anything to say back. Truthfully, the reason he even started talking to Whizzer was because he was annoyed and the usual small talk would have never led them to the conversation and situation that they were currently in (and although he would never fully admit it, Marvin was secretly a little glad that the bickering did lead to this moment).

“Why are you doing this, I don’t like to be in debt to anyone especially you”

“I’m not doing this because I want something in return. Contrary to your beliefs, I can actually be a good person. Also I may have thought about some of my past actions and wanted to not make you hate me. Just tell me where I need to drop you off”. After telling Whizzer the address of his workplace, Whizzer turned the volume of the music up and focused back on the road.

Neither Marvin nor Whizzer tried to start conversation, and they seemed content with that. About ten minutes later Whizzer reached Marvin’s work. 

“Hey um I don’t want you to think I am ungrateful or anything. I just… well I don’t know get frustrated and well I guess...” Marvin tried to searching for the right things to say, but nothing came to mind. “Never mind just thanks for the ride” he finally settled with and hopped out of the car before Whizzer could reply with anything else.

To say that Marvin thought about that ride often would be an understatement.


	2. Input and Injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin seeks out help before having to help someone himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the people who have read this and are continuing to read this story :) Planning on uploading once or more a week depending on how much I can edit.

“Charlotte, the man was practically insufferable, but he drove me to work the other day and I actually don’t hate him? Or I think I don’t but- God this is exactly why I try and avoid all my neighbors!” Marvin explained, frustrated, as Charlotte plopped down on the couch next to him. Marvin had been friends with Charlotte and Cordelia since college and they used to live in the same building together. About two years ago they moved out but, Marvin still visited their apartment on occasion when he had time or when he needed advice about things. This time, Marvin was over to talk about Whizzer because for a reason he couldn’t pinpoint, Marvin had not stopped thinking about him. He was still frustrated by some of his actions however, now that he was not being a complete jerk, Marvin was conflicted and honestly didn’t know how to feel.

“Who is this we are talking about again?” Cordelia called out from inside the kitchen.

“Marvin has a new neighbor named Whizzer who is driving him crazy because apparently Marvin would rather spend his entire life alone, avoiding any sort of human interaction than trying to be nice to him” Charlotte yelled back to Cordelia.

“No that is not why-” Marvin started in defense, before Cordelia interrupted.

“Whizzer? I know him! or at least I think I know him. I don’t think there is that many people named Whizzer in the world. He works at the same bakery as me. Also, he is not annoying!” Cordelia said as she sat down on the chair adjacent from Marvin holding a plate containing some sort of food that Marvin was not going to bother asking what it was.

“Okay well tell me that after he moves next to you guys because you don’t understand”

“Yeah your right on that I don’t understand, but what I don’t understand is what the big deal is Marvin, honestly. Just talk to him I am sure that’s all he wants. Moving somewhere new is scary and maybe he is trying to make friends or have a person to talk to” Charlotte said.

“Yeah well I don’t plan on being that person so he is just going to have to deal with it instead of insulting me like a child because he is not getting what he wants”   
“Why don’t you just try talking to him again and if he doesn’t stop then deal with it then, but you two are both grown adults I think you can learn how to figure out differences by now. Maybe think of the car ride as some sort of a truce ” Charlotte said, in response to Marvin’s complaints.

“Fine, but just so you know I am not going to enjoy any part of this” Marvin replied stubbornly, giving up on any sort of help that he was hoping for. The three of them continued to talk and eventually put on a movie. Marvin didn’t realize how late into the night it was until he felt himself starting to slowly fall asleep on the couch and after checking his phone and realizing it was one in the morning, he quietly got up as Charlotte and Cordelia were fast asleep before putting on his shoes. He wrote a quick thank you note and placed it on the coffee table as he felt bad for simply leaving without letting them know. Finally he left the apartment and made the way back to his own building.

While walking back to his own apartment, Marvin got to fully appreciate the environment around him. He was rarely every up this late at night and despite being the epitome of a morning person, Marvin found appreciation in the semi-quiet streets (as quiet as city streets could be) and looked in at the people in the various buildings leading up to his apartment. He cherished these moments where he got to fully enjoy the environment around him as he was usually running to and from work when walking these streets.

After getting to his building and taking the elevator to his own floor, Marvin walked out of the elevator and started to make his way to his apartment. Before he turned the corner, Marvin heard the rattling of keys and muttering from someone that sounded somewhat in frustration or distress. Immediately he was on edge. Very rarely was someone spending a unusually long amount of time trying to enter an apartment past midnight ever a good thing. Maybe it was just the copious amounts of Dateline that he had watched the week before that was making him overly paranoid, but the rational part of his mind could not seem to calm him down. He wanted to hide behind the wall of the hallway however, eventually he would have to walk back to his apartment and if it actually was someone breaking and entering he should probably stop it before it escalated. So when he turned the corner to find out that the rattling of keys was Whizzer trying to enter his apartment, Marvin was surprised to say the least.

“Shit I just can’t get the right key” Whizzer mumbled as he leaned on his door.

“Whizzer?” Marvin called out while slowly approaching the apartment door. The closer that he got to Whizzer the more he realized the disheveled state that Whizzer was currently in; it was a harsh contrast to the usual put together and clever Whizzer that Marvin was used to seeing. Upon closer inspection Marvin noticed that his eye had started to form a bruise and there was a large cut by his eyebrow. 

“Hey whoa what the hell happened to you?” Marvin asked, concerned.

“Nothing okay I just want to get into my apartment but I can’t get the right key” Whizzer murmured, exasperated. Marvin looked down at Whizzer and noticed that his hands were shaking as he fumbled with the keys.

“Okay well obviously something happened and- ” Marvin sighed trying to find the right words to say without making the man in front of him any more frustrated. “Whizzer you really don’t look to great I just want to help you” he finally settled with.

“I don’t need your help right now! I just want to get into my damn apartment okay! Why is that so difficult for you to understand!?” Whizzer yelled just before slamming his fist on the apartment door in frustration. Marvin grimaced at the sound of Whizzer’s hand hitting the door. He looked up at Whizzer and upon closer inspection he could have sworn that he saw his eyes filling with tears. Placing a gentle hand on Whizzer’s shoulder, Marvin slowly took the keys out of his hand and Whizzer didn’t bother to resist.

“Hey hey its okay I just don’t want to leave you alone right now okay. I can help clean you up a bit just come into my apartment you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to alright?” Marvin said quietly, trying to calm Whizzer down. Whizzer looked at Marvin and slowly nodded as he allowed Marvin to slowly bring him into his apartment.

Upon entering the apartment Marvin lead Whizzer to sit on the couch in his living room as he tried to think about where to even start. 

“Um you can sit here I am just going to get some first aid supplies okay?” Marvin said in the calmest voice he could muster. The more he thought about it, the more he was worried about whatever happened. There were probably a million questions going through his mind, all of which started with ‘What the hell happened to you’, but in the state that Whizzer was currently in he was not about to pry. He decided that if Whizzer wanted to tell him, great; if not then that was fine too. Marvin briskly walked into the bathroom and tried to rummage around to find some first aid supplies. After going through the cabinet he found a small first aid kit that Charlotte had gotten him when he first moved into the apartment because apparently Marvin had a tendency to be “just a little bit clumsy”.

Walking back into the living room, Marvin placed the first aid kit onto the coffee table and sat next to Whizzer on the couch. Whizzer didn’t even move to look at Marvin when he sat next to him. Instead he just stared into nothingness. 

“Hey can you just turn your head so I can clean up your face a little bit” Marvin said gently. Whizzer turned his head and Marvin really got a good look at his face for the first time. He already had a bruise forming around his eye and there was dried blood on his face. Marvin tried his best not to flinch or grimace as he looked closer. As Marvin grabbed gauze to place on Whizzer’s eye with shaking hands, Whizzer finally started to show some signs of life.

“I’m not putting that thing on my face” Whizzer argued and turned the other way. This was the first words he said since walking into the apartment and out of all of the things he could have said, Marvin couldn’t say that he was surprised. 

“You know if you don’t put a bandage on it, the wound could get infected”

“Marvin I’ll take my chances I’m not walking around with that on my face. And besides people get punched in the face all the time, I’m not going to die okay”  
“Oh so that’s what happened. Who the hell did this to you I swear to God I’ll...”

“Its fine okay there’s nothing that you can do now”

“The hell do you mean ‘it’s fine’ Whizzer this isn’t okay” Upon hearing this Whizzer sighed angrily and threw his hands up in a sign of surrender.

“I know that Marvin! I appreciate this I really do, but I don’t need to have this conversation right now okay” Whizzer said in an angry and rushed tone. After hearing how upset and bothered he was Marvin decided to take it upon himself to step back. As angry as he was at the whole situation, he recognized that it probably was not the time to have this conversation and figured that all Whizzer wanted to do right now was try and get cleaned up and fall asleep. Instead, Marvin placed the supplies back in the first aid kit without saying anything else. After placing the kit back into the bathroom, Marvin walked back and to no surprise Whizzer was still sitting on the same spot on the couch.

“Hey um I don’t want to like cross a line or anything, but do you want to maybe stay here for the night. I have extra blankets and pillows that we could set up on the couch” Marvin suggested. There probably was not much of a reason for him to stay considering the fact that Whizzer only lived literally right next door. However despite this, Marvin just could not stand the thought of sending him back to his apartment alone, knowing the state he was currently in.

“Yeah actually I would really appreciate that” Whizzer replied. Marvin grabbed blankets and pillows from the hall closet and set up the couch.

“Okay well I also have some more comfortable clothes if you want to change into them. Feel free to use the bathroom if you like. I am just going to go to sleep so knock on the door if you need anything” Marvin handed him the extra pair of clothes and blankets before he proceeded to walk back into his room. After putting pajamas on and getting into bed, he finally really got to think about what had happened just minutes ago. His heart ached at the thought of someone being that cruel to Whizzer. Yeah, the man could be a little harsh sometimes, but overall he meant well.

As it turns out Marvin was not the only one that was trying to process the events of that night.

After a couple of hours of being curled up on Marvin’s couch, Whizzer had not been able to get any bit of sleep. Every so often he stared at the digital clock across from across the room and watched the bright red numbers as each hour passed by. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty now about how he had acted towards Marvin in the past. As funny as it was to push Marvin’s buttons every morning, he knew that Marvin was a genuinely nice person and this night served as a reminder of that. After tossing and turning for another twenty minutes Whizzer decided to give up on falling asleep and looked around the living room, trying to find some way to spend his time. He found the tv remote sitting on a nearby table and turned on the television across from the couch. After flipping through various channels, he finally decided to leave HGTV as it was an easy channel to just leave on in the background.

Marvin had been woken up from his sleep when he heard the hum of the television from the living room. He debated trying to fall back asleep or going in and watching tv with Whizzer. After contemplating for awhile, he just decided to go into the next room as he wanted to check up on Whizzer again to make sure that he was alright. He got up and put on a pair of slippers before walking into the living room to see Whizzer sitting curled up in the blanket that was left for him as he mindlessly watched the television. Marvin could tell that Whizzer has also been fighting to fall asleep and judging by the tired look on his face, Whizzer had been losing.

“Hey mind if I sit?” Marvin asked. Whizzer nodded and moved over so that Marvin had room to sit down next to him. Marvin regretted not bringing in another blanket as he had not realized how cold it was in the living room. After shivering for a couple of minutes and curling in on himself to try and conserve body heat, Whizzer took pity on him and moved closer to Marvin and placed the blanket over both of them before resting his head on Marvin’s shoulder. Instead of trying to question the action Marvin just went along and moved closer to Whizzer to share the warmth of the blanket.

“You know I never understand the people on these shows. You are not going to buy a house in Los Angeles with a budget of $200,000” Whizzer mumbled under his breath. Marvin could not help but to giggle at this comment and the absurdity of the situation in general. Never in a million years would he have ever thought that he would end up curled on a couch with Whizzer criticizing people on HGTV. 

He just supposed life worked in mysterious ways.


	3. Aftermath and Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin and Whizzer deal with the aftermath as things start to escalate.

When Marvin woke up the next morning, it took him a couple of seconds to remember everything that had happened last night. He looked next to him on the couch however, instead of seeing Whizzer, a crumpled blanked had taken his place. He looked around and noticed Whizzer standing in his kitchen, scanning his cupboards for god only knew what.

“Hey sorry if I woke you, I figured I should probably make you breakfast after everything from last- well you know what happened”.

Marvin was tempted to say something or at least ask one of the many questions that had formed last night however; again he just decided to ignore them. “Whizzer its fine you don’t have to make me breakfast for what? Being a decent human being, it’s really not that big of a deal I promise” Marvin assured him. Whizzer sighed and nodded at this, knowing he was going to lose this argument and sat down at the kitchen table as Marvin got up to make coffee and set out cereal for breakfast. While eating, a comfortable silence fell over the two men. In this silence, Marvin was trying his best to sneak looks at Whizzer’s face to see how he was doing without the other man noticing. He knew that Whizzer would not say anything about how he was feeling and would only get annoyed if Marvin straight up asked him, so he was trying his best for him not to notice. 

Unfortunately, Marvin was not very discreet which caused Whizzer to sigh. 

“Marvin I really appreciate everything, but I am okay I promise” Whizzer said in a strained voice. Marvin nodded at this and went back to eating his breakfast, a silence falling over them once again.

Whizzer left the apartment about ten minutes later, leaving Marvin confused and if he was being honest, a little worried. He still didn’t know what really happened to Whizzer last night, however he just hoped that whatever did occur, would not happen again.

\- - - 

Days had gone by since that night and without realizing it, Marvin and Whizzer had gone a full week without acknowledging what had happened. Both of them continued their daily routine of seeing each other on the elevator, pretending that nothing happened. Part of Marvin was glad; he knew that if he tried to bring it up it would most likely end up with Whizzer being frustrated. A more selfish part of Marvin however, was disappointed that they had not really talked since. The whole situation was shit but, he thought that maybe it would open a new door for him and Whizzer to maybe become friends. If he was being honest, he wished that he could spend another Friday night curled up with Whizzer on the couch watching shitty television.

The next Friday, Marvin sat at his desk anxiously waiting for the day to end so that he could make his way back to his apartment and read. The whole work week exhausted him and one of the few things that he looked forward to every week was his alone time on Friday nights. Without realizing it however, this Friday night was going to be different yet again.

As soon as he arrived home, Marvin put on more comfortable clothes and picked up a random book from his shelf. He ended up with a John Steinbeck novel and curled up on the couch to hopefully immerse himself in the story and forget about the stresses of the week. 

He was only about twenty pages into the book when he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Marvin signed and contemplated if it was worth getting up. On one hand he was not expecting anybody so it could be nothing however; he rarely had anybody knock on his door in general. Before he could decide whether or not to answer, the person knocked again so Marvin just decided to go to see whoever it was. Upon opening it, he was surprised to find Whizzer standing there. He was about to say something however, he stopped in surprise at the fact that Whizzer was wearing a suit (and he looked pretty good in it).

“Whizzer what are you doing here?” Marvin finally asked, confused. “I wanted to repay you for the other night last week so I made a reservation at a restaurant in town” Marvin went to say something however, Whizzer continued before he could “Marvin don’t you dare say that you are busy because I know damn well that every Friday you just sit alone in this apartment” he finally finished. In the back of his mind Marvin knew that it was probably no use arguing with Whizzer however, that did not stop him from trying.

“Whizzer I appreciate the offer, I really do but I just don’t think I can go out tonight” Marvin replied as he started to close the door. Before he could close it all the way thought, Whizzer stuck his foot in the door frame. 

“Why can’t you? Please give me one good reason why you cannot go to dinner and then I will leave you alone” Whizzer said with his hands up as a sign of surrender. “Whizzer I am planning on having a quiet night to myself so I can read and wind down from the week”.

“Okay great so dinner it is. I will wait here while you go and put something nice on” Whizzer said, smirking. Marvin decided against pushing the matter further and finally just gave in. Whizzer was being nice he should just take up the offer and move on.

“Fine I’ll go, but only because I know what it is like to hate being in debt to someone” Marvin replied as he invited Whizzer inside and closed the door behind him. Whizzer smiled and sat down on one of the couches in the living room.

“Okay um I will be right back I am just going to go put something nicer on” Marvin said as he went into his bedroom. Upon opening his closet, he became aware of the fact that he rarely went out to nice dinners or really any super formal events in general. Sure, he had nice clothes to wear to the office every day, but he wanted to look nice and after scanning the row of clothes twice, nothing seemed to be what he was looking for. 

“Damn it Whizzer this is why you can’t spring things on me like this” Marvin grumbled to himself as he flipped through the various shirts and pants yet again, trying to find something that he actually liked. Marvin stepped back from the clothes and just tried to calm himself down. He was not sure why he was so stressed about this. He had been out to dinner before for Christ’s sake and it was just Whizzer, it’s not like it’s a first date and he doesn’t know the person. Last week Whizzer had seen him in his pajamas. Despite knowing that it was silly, Marvin could not help but feel a little self conscious. It was no secret that Whizzer was really attractive and not that Marvin was unattractive per se, but he definitely did not get nearly the same amount of attention that Whizzer got from others. 

“Hey Marvin are you coming, I don’t want to miss our reservations” Whizzer called from outside. “Fuck just pull yourself together” Marvin thought to himself. He finally just had to settle with an outfit before walking back outside to meet Whizzer.

“You look nice” Whizzer said, smiling as Marvin walked out. “Oh thanks, I mean its just- I don’t really dress up much but- ” Marvin started, stuttering. “Hey Marv you look fine” Whizzer said assuring him as he reached out and linked arms with Marvin. Marvin looked down at their linked arms and said nothing as he followed Whizzer out of the apartment building and started the walk to the restaurant. 

Marvin still couldn’t help but feeling a little bit nervous considering he had no idea where the hell they were going. At the very least, walking outside gave him some fresh air which always seemed to help calm him down a little bit. It also helped having Whizzer by his side. He couldn’t help but to enjoy walking so close next to him as he held on to his arm.

Immediately upon arriving at the restaurant, the calmness that he tried so hard to achieve had vanished as felt his stomach drop. He knew that Whizzer liked the fancier things in life however; Marvin still was surprised at elegance of the restaurant. He started to feel even more self conscious about himself then he was before. Was he really wearing the right clothes? What if he could not pronounce whatever the hell was on the menu here and makes a fool of himself in front of not only the wait staff but also Whizzer? Also why did everyone else look so comfortable, did nobody else also have this fear that Marvin felt? Without thinking about it, Marvin gripped tighter onto Whizzer’s arm, hoping that somehow that erase the feeling of dread he felt as they entered the building. This prompted Whizzer to glance down at Marvin, a slightly concerned look on his face appearing however, neither man said anything. 

Marvin was hoping that once they sat down at their table, the anxiety he felt about being in the restaurant would slowly start to dissolve. To his dismay, this did not seem to be the case. When they sat down multiple waiters and waitresses introduced themselves, all assigned with a different job. Marvin was definitely not used to having more than one waiter so he felt that three was a little excessive. Whizzer didn’t seem to be phased at all by the stuffy and overly pretentious environment. Marvin never thought that he would hate fancy dinners this much however, after leaving to go to the restroom and coming back to notice that one of the wait staff had re-folded his napkin after he got up, Marvin really started to hate this whole experience. Of course he could not tell Whizzer this, hell it was really nice of him to bring him here in the first place. However, it was becoming really difficult for Marvin to pretend that he was not on the verge of an anxiety attack as he sat across from him, watching everyone around them act calm and so used to all of the things that Marvin hated about the place. He started paying attention to the small movements of the people around him like how they were holding the wine glass or what utensil they used first to make sure that he would not make a fool of himself. In this time that he spent looking around, Marvin had seemingly ignored the man sitting across from him.  
“Marv? Are you there?” Whizzer leaned forward as he waved his hand in front of Marvin’s face. “Huh oh yeah sorry I just um got distracted that’s all” Marvin replied trying to play it off. Whizzer laughed at this and shook his head as he looked back down at the menu. 

Marvin was trying, he really was but this was just not working. At this point his hands were shaking and no matter how much he tried, he just could not seem to fully comprehend anything Whizzer was saying, mostly due to the fact that his mind was caught up with dumb small things that he knew he would find stupid looking back. However, despite knowing that the cause of his current anxiety was frivolous, it didn’t do anything to mend the current situation that he was in.

“Um Whizzer” Marvin said in a squeaky and kind of pathetic tone. “I am just going to go to the restroom I will be right back” Marvin said. Before Whizzer could reply, Marvin had gotten up from the table. Instead of going to the restroom, Marvin decided to step outside for some fresh air. He felt like he was suffocating inside the restaurant and just needed some time alone away from all of the pretentions people dining inside. After stepping outside, he sat down on one of the empty benches and took deep breath as he tried to cease the shaking I his hands. The dinner had to be at least halfway over at this point; he could deal with that right? 

“I didn’t think I was so bad of a date that you had to make an excuse to go to the bathroom to get away from me”. Marvin felt his stomach drop as he recognized Whizzer’s voice. He really wished that he could just disappear in this moment. Slowly, he turned around and noticed Whizzer walking toward him. “Move over” Whizzer said, nudging Marvin’s leg as he moved over to allow Whizzer to sit next to him.

“I’m so sorry Whizzer I tried I just… I don’t know this whole fancy restaurant thing is not really my thing” Marvin said, sighing. “Hey it’s alright, I probably should have run it through with you a couple days before hand” Whizzer said, placing an arm around Marvin’s shoulders effectively bringing the man closer to him. Marvin noticed his heart rate start to pick up as he placed his head on Whizzer’s shoulder and continued to move even closer to the man next to him, if that was even possible. 

“I hope I didn’t ruin anything I mean hell I didn’t even-” Marvin started however, he didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence as Whizzer leaned forward and started to kiss him, effectively shutting Marvin up. Marvin was surprised to say the least however; this didn’t stop him from kissing him back as he started to run his finger through the other mans hair.

When they pulled away Marvin was still in a state of shock. His mind started going a million miles an hour trying to process what had just happened, but these thoughts were interrupted by Whizzer.

“So um I am going to go back inside and pay, and then maybe we can go get takeout or something?” Whizzer asked, smiling. Marvin just nodded his head, not really looking at Whizzer or anything else in particular. As soon as Whizzer went back inside to pay Marvin did something that he would end up regretting more than he anticipated. He quickly got up and left.


End file.
